lent and intellect. This conversation gave me an | cumstances by which his providence may have surimpressive idea of his general knowledge of the doc-rounded him; but rather wait in patience till the trines of the gospel, and I saw in him the traits of a hand that has thus encircled him opens up a pasvery strong and ardent mind." sage, and by events, which may jusly be considered as intimations of the divine will, invites him to advance.

Whilst at Mr. Thodey's he conscientiously devoted himself to promote the interests of his employers, notwithstanding his natural aversion to business. He even became peculiarly attached to the family, and receiving from them tokens of affectionate attention, superior to any thing he had a right to expect, and of which he always spoke with gratitude, he became as happy as the circumstances of his lot could possibly allow him to be. He formed an acquaintance with several pious young men, who, though rather above his station, did not hesitate to respect genius and religion, even in a lad of inferior rank in life. Several times also, he exercised his preaching talents at the house of a relation of the young man who was then his fellow-servant, but was afterwards a student in the same academy with himself, and is now a useful minister of the gospel.*

He describes the exercises of his mind and the mode in which he passed his time, during his residence in the Poultry, with great simplicity and feeling.

"At this place my time was entirely employed, as it was fit it should be, in executing the will of my two masters; for the young man, who was active and friendly, I formed a great attachment, and was indeed interested in the welfare of the whole family. Marks of respect were shown me, which were I believe unusual to any of my predecessors. I made myself upon the whole tolerably comfortable; some difficulties and disagreeable circumstances of course fell to my lot, yet upon the whole I had many enjoyments. My acquaintance, whilst here, increased: with several young men, who indeed were rather above my station in life, I was particularly intimate, and more than twice or thrice did I give an exhortation at the house of a relative of the young man's, who was my fellowservant. The opportunities I had of hearing the word were very delightful, and a higher relish was given to them by the toils and business of the week."+

These remarks, the result of frequent observa tions on the ways of God in cases similar to this, not improperly connect the future scenes of Mr. Spencer's life, with those we have already contemplated. For the time was now arrived, that the cloud which had hovered over his future prospects should be dissipated, and another path-a path to which he had from infancy directed his attention with fond anticipation and intense desire-present its varied and momentous objects of pursuit for the cheerful, but, alas! the short-lived exercise of his superior powers. After a residence of about four months with his employers in the Poultry, circumstances occurred of such a nature as to render his services no longer necessary, on which account he left London and returned for a while to his parents at Hertford; but some time previous to the event which caused his departure from London, he had been introduced to the notice of Thomas Wilson, Esq., the benevolent and indefatigable treasurer of the academy for educating young men for the work of the ministry, at Hoxton. Mr. Wilson perceived in him piety and talents far above his years. His whole appearance and his engaging manners excited in that gentleman's breast, an interest in this amiable youth, which he never lost, and he gave it as his decided opinion, (without elating him with a hope, of the ultimate failure of which, there was still a probability,) that his views should in some way or other be directed towards the ministry.

This revolution in Mr. Spencer's affairs was not unnoticed or unimproved by Mr. Wilson, who wisely regarding it as a favorable opportunity for carrying into effect those generous designs respecting him, which from their first interview he had cherished, sent for him; conversed with him upon the subject, and introduced him to the Rev. William Hordle, of Harwich, a gentleman to whose care some of the young men were committed, whose To youth who may be placed in similar circum- youth or other circumstances did not allow of their stances with the amiable subject of these memoirs, immediate entrance into the academy, though they his mild and cheerful deportment in scenes so un- were considered as proper objects of its patronage. congenial to the bias of his mind, should prove a To this gentleman, at length, Mr. Wilson proposed salutary and impressive lesson. Impatience and to send Mr. Spencer for trial of his talents and fretfulness are but ill adapted to the furtherance of piety, and for preparatory studies; a proposition to any design, and a disposition to murmur, under the which Mr. Spencer acceded with unfeigned gratiarrangements of our present lot, marks a state of tude and joy. The time fixed for his entrance into mind most unfriendly to the patient sufferance of Mr. Hordle's family was January, 1806. The inthe toils, the anxieties and the disappointments in- terval between this period and that of his departure separably connected with the ministerial life; and from the Poultry, which was in October, 1805, he whilst it is an obvious fact, that every young man spent in his father's house, and for the most part in possessed of piety cannot be employed as a preacher his father's business. Though this was repugnant to of the gospel, to such as conceive themselves en- his feelings, he had yet learned, by five month's dowed with talents for that solemn office, and yet absence, in the bustle of a shop in the city, to apare placed in circumstances which seem to forbid preciate the calm and tranquil pleasures of a the indulgence of a hope they still cherish with an domestic circle, to which he became more enanxious pleasure; to such, the subsequent history deared as the lovely qualities of his mind unfoldof Mr. Spencer, will afford another striking proofed, and the dignified and pleasing prospects of his in an innumerable series-that where God has future life were disclosed. But though consideraactually called and qualified an individual for the ble light was thrown upon his destiny, yet on leaving ministry, he will, in his own time and by unex- London it was not finally determined; and this pected methods, make the path of duty plain before pressed with peculiar weight upon his spirit, which, that individual's feet. Let no one, then, rashly at- susceptible of the slightest emotion, must have tempt to break the connected chain of opposing cir- deeply felt in leaving one scene of action, the uncertainty which as yet partially veiled from him that which should succeed. Of the day of his departure he thus writes:-"I anticipated it with mingled emotions; a strong desire to see my father, mother, brother, and sisters, a sensation of sorrow at parting with my old friends, and the idea of uncertainty

The Rev. Thomas Heward, of Clare, to whom I cheerfully take this opportunity of publicly rendering my thanks for several interesting letters of Mr. Spencer's, which will appear in these pages.

+ MS. Memoirs.

as to my future engagements in life, equally affected | me. Although I had been absent from home but five months, the desire I had again to see Hertford was very great, nor do I suppose I shall often spend more pleasant evenings than the first one I spent at home, after the first time of being absent for any considerable season; two or three days were spent in seeing other relations and friends, till."* Here the narrative, first referred to, and often quoted, written by his own hand, and evidently for his own use, abruptly closes; and here for a moment his biographer will pause.It is a charming domestic piece, which the hand of his departed friend, obedient to the warm and vivid recollections of his fervent mind, has sketched; but scarcely has he pictured to himself the countenances of that interesting group which gathered around him again to bid him welcome to his father's house, and committed the rude outline to his paper, than he is suddenly called off, and lays down the recording pen for ever! So did his life abruptly terminate; but the mysterious voice that summoned him from his endeared connections upon earth introduced his emancipated spirit to the bosom of a happier family above-not another family, but one most intimately connected with his own, for which whilst here he cherished such a warm affection. The sentiment this sentence breathes was familiar to himself, and often seen in the energy and fervor with which he would reveat these admirable lines of Kelly:

One family, we dwell in him;

One church above, beneath, Though now divided by the stream, The narrow stream of death.

One army of the living God,

To his command we bow;
Part of the host have cross'd the flood,
And part are crossing now.

Ten thousand to their endless home
This awful moment fly:
And we are to the margin come,
And soon expect to die.

Dear Jesus, be our constant gnide;
Then when the word is giv'n,

Bid death's cold stream and flood divide
And land us safe in heav'n.

At Harwich Mr. Spencer was completely in his element. He commenced the year 1806 in Mr. Hordle's family, and was then about completing the fifteenth of his own life. At this interesting age, when the powers of the mind begin rapidly to unfold-when a tone is often given to the future cast of thought, and sentiments and habits are imbibed and formed, which constitute the basis or become the germ of the matured and finished character ;it was a circumstance peculiarly auspicious in the history of this lamented youth, that he was introduced to the pious and enlightened care of such a man as Mr. Hordle. In his preaching, in his lectures, and in his conversation, he saw most admirably applied, those elementary principles of theological science, the scholastic forms of which must else have been unintelligible or insipid to his mind. In the liberal and sacred current of his habitual thought, Mr. Spencer would find a safe channel for the yet infant stream of his own conceptions; whilst he would imperceptibly form his character upon that mild, correct, and amiable model, constantly before him.

MS. Memoirs.

It must be of incalculable advantage to a young man destined for the Christian ministry, as it evidently was to our departed Spencer, to pass a year or two beneath a faithful and enlightened pastor's roof-to be a spectator of his toil-a daily witness of the varied scenes of duty and of trial which the Christian ministry perpetually presents. It is true, that in academies, lectures on the pastoral care are read, and discourses on the duties of the Christian ministry delivered; but one week of actual observation must impress more deeply on the mind all that such lectures can contain, and unnumbered other circumstances, equally important, but which no general analysis can include, than months or years of the most devoted study. And to the diligent improvement of this peculiar advantage, perhaps, may in part be attributed that early maturity at which Mr. Spencer's capacity for the sacred office had arrived. He had the seriousness, the reflection of the pastor while but a student; and when he actually entered on that holy office, the exercises of the pulpit, and the habits of his ministerial life, bespoke the knowledge of long experience, rather than of recent theory, and indicated the presence of a master's, not a learner's hand.

At Harwich his diligence was exemplary: a judicious course of reading was marked out for him by his respected tutor, which he conscientiously and unweariedly pursued; but besides this, he had the use of an excellent library, with rich supplies from which he amply occupied his leisure hours. He had made considerable progress in the Latin; and soon after his introduction to Mr. Hordle, he commenced, under his direction, the study of the Hebrew. With this sacred language he was particularly pleased, and soon demonstrated his attachment and his diligence, by completing, with considerable labor, an abridgment of Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon. This work he accomplished in a small pocket manual, which proved of considerable use to him, and was almost his constant com. panion.*

Here, too, he first became acquainted with the principles of Moral Philosophy; and whilst from the lectures of Doddridge, and the essays of Locke, his mind derived vigor and energy; from the study of the Latin poets, and the classic authors of our own country, it gained amusement, and his compositions gradually assumed an air of elegance and

ease.

But not only in literature and science was his progress conspicuous during his residence a Harwich; but he also made considerable advances in the knowledge and experience of divine things. That in the midst of all his studies, which yet he pursued with diligence and ardor, religion was the object of his chief regard and dearest to his heart, is evident from the uniform strain of his letters to his most intimate and beloved friend Mr. Heward, whose fellow laborer he had been at Mr. Thodey's, and the privation of whose society he seemed deeply to deplore. His views of the Christian ministry became more and more consistent, and the impression of its vast importance more deep and solemn on his mind. The intense desire with which he panted for that sacred and honorable office became empered, thongh never checked, by an awe of its vast responsibility, and a consciousness of incapacity for the full discharge of its numerous and laborious duties.

With Mr. Hordle he would sometimes indulge

* Of this manual he made two fair copies, one of which is in possession of his tutor, and the other is amongst the papers from which these Memoirs are supplied. The design is honorable to his judgment, and the execution to his perseverance and his accuracy at that early age.

in the most free and unreserved converse on the | Mr. Hordle drew towards its close, his anxiety constate of his heart, and his private walk with God. siderably increased; he anticipated, with regret, a In such conversations he was always much affect- departure from scenes and society so much endeared, and susceptible, from the constitution of his na-ed to him; and the trial through which he was to ture, of the most delicate impressions and the keen-pass previous to his admission into the academy at est feelings, it may be well supposed that in religion Hoxton, when viewed in connection with his youth, he would deeply feel. Hence the tenderness of his excited in his mind considerable apprehension and conscience, and the susceptibility of his mind, would dread. But the hope of success never entirely often overwhelm his bosom with convictions of guilt, abandoned him; whilst the pleasing prospect of beand agitate him with unnumbered inward conflicts. ing again associated with his friend, who had by Yet in the midst of all he evidently grew in spiritual this time entered as a student in the same academy, strength-his mind acquired confidence-his prin- tended not a little to gladden and animate his heart. ciples became daily more and more confirmed-and he had advanced far in a deep and experimental acquaintance with the ways of God at an age when such advancement is rarely to be found.

In November he drew up a statement of his religious experience, his views of theological truth, and his reasons for desiring the Christian ministry, according to a standing order of the academy with respect to young men proposing themselves as candidates for its patronage. These papers, written in a style of dignified simplicity, and disclosing a knowledge and experience of divine things, which in a youth, scarcely sixteen years of age, must have excited the admiration of all to whom they were submitted-were duly presented to the committee, and passed, though not without some difficulty, arising from his age; but the extraordinary qualifications he appeared to possess, and the strong recommendations of his friend and tutor, Mr. Hordle, overcame this obstacle, and the 5th of January fol lowing was appointed for his personal appearance before the constituents of that institution, in order to give them a specimen of his talents for public speaking.

Mr. Spencer left Mr. Hordle's family on the 18th of December, and spent the interval of time between his departure from Harwich and the day of his examination at Hoxton (which was postponed to the 7th of January) at his father's house at Hertford.

Whilst at Harwich he regularly shared with Mr. H. the pleasing duty of conducting the devotions of the family, and frequently performed the sacred service with an enlargement of heart, a fervor and propriety of expression truly astonishing. But this was a circumstance he particularly wished should be concealed; his modesty and diffidence shrunk from the observation of men, even of his nearest friends; and in one of his letters to his friend he writes, "My situation is comfortable, more so than ever; I am considered like one of the family; of an evening I generally, by Mr. H.'s desire, engage in family prayer, he in the morning. O tell it to no body on any account. When he is out I always do." To those who knew not the beloved original, the outlines of whose character these pages but imperfectly present, the detail of minute particulars may be uninteresting and insipid; but those who were familiar with him will dwell with pleasure on the faintest lineament that may be here preserved of a dear departed friend, so ardently, so deservedly esteemed; whilst a combination of these varied and Whose imagination does not follow this beloved retired beauties may form a portrait on which the youth into the bosom of his family again; who does eye of a stranger may dwell with admiration, and not picture to himself the charming scenes of social the mind reflect with profit. It is in confidence of and domestic joy his presence would inspire. With this that his biographer pauses to record another what tenderness and affection would his venerable and a pleasing trait in his character at this early father bid him welcome to his paternal home again; age the peculiar warmth and constancy of his with what delight would he gaze upon the animated friendship. He seems, indeed, at this period to have features of his countenance, smiling in all the inhad but one bosom friend, except those of his own genuousness of youth; while with nobler feelings immediate family; to him his letters breathe an af- of delight he marked the unfolding graces of his fection the most glowing, spiritual, and pure; and mind, saw his improvement in the best of sciences perhaps no little incident more strikingly displays-religion, and beheld him daily growing in favor the tender cast of his mind than that which he him- both with God and man. With what adoring graself relates, with great simplicity, in a letter to his titude would they retrace together the scenes of his friend:childhood, and the many alarming obstacles which "This morning we read (Mr. H. and myself) the once almost forbade the indulgence of a hope that second night of Young's Night Thoughts-the very the object of their ardent wish would ever be ob place that treats of friendship; I was rather affect-tained; and how, in the transport of those happy ed at the reading of it; and after it was finished, hours, would his family anticipate for him they and we were alone, I told him (Mr. H.) I was no loved, in the future stages of an honorable minisstranger to Young's sentiments in that place. He try, years of usefulness and comfort. Ah! pleasing asked me 'If I had lost any friends?' I told him no visions never to be realized! Little did that inte-not by death. He asked me if I had by trea- resting group conceive that it was his appointed lot chery?" O no, sir. 'How then? Only by separa- but just to taste the joys and sorrows of a pastor's tion!" life, and then expire. Already they had seen the bud swelling with fulness-teeming with life; now they beheld the blossom, and admired its beauty; and they thought long to gaze upon the promised charms of the unfolded flower; happy strangers of the melancholy and mysterious fact, that so soon as it had opened it must be suddenly cut down and die! But such and so frail is man-"In the morning they are like grass that groweth up, in the evening it is cut down and withereth." Psalm xc. 5, 6. Such and so uncertain is human life-" It is even as a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James iv. 14.

Thus in pleasant and familiar intercourse with one for whom he mingled veneration with affection, and of whom he never ceased to speak with all the rapturous energy of gratitude and filial love-in exercises and pursuits every way adapted to satisfy his ardent thirst of knowledge-in scenes and in society congenial to the tone and bias of his mind— in conscientious preparation for closer studies and severer labor, previous to his entrance on that sacred office long the object of his choice--and in deep communion with himself and God-did he pass the allotted period of his stay at Harwich. As the term (a year) fixed for his residence with

* Mr. Heward.

At this interesting period of Mr. Spencer's life it will be perhaps gratifying to the reader to pause, and gain a more familiar acquaintance with him'

and do employ my time: my father employs me either in writing or in his business, more than I ex-ful are God's ways.' We indeed little thought that pected. What leisure time I do have, which is but little, I employ in reading, writing, and meditation. I hope he will not press upon me that employment which I dislike, but which however I have been engaged in.

lar I hope you are perpetually engaged. Pray, my "Sabbath-day, Nov 15th, I heard Mr. Mdear friend, for direction of God-pray for grace, at Cowbridge, in the morning, from 1 Thes. v. 8. which is more value, by far, than great gifts, But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on and say in the language of resignation, hope, and the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the faith-Here am I, Lord, send me to labor in thy vine-hope of salvation. He first showed what was implied yard.' You have appealed to me in saying, 'You in Christians being of the day; secondly, enforced well know I shall never rely on my own strength the exhortation of the text. To be of the day, he for success and usefulness'—I know you will not, said, implied-1. a state of knowledge; 2. safety; (at least whilst in your present mind) and I pray 3. comfort, &c. In enforcing the admonition, he that God would keep you still so determined. Let exhorted them to the exercise of faith and love; us then pray, that we may both of us be able, use- gave them good grounds for hope; and showed ful, and humble ministers of the New Testament. that these three graces had a tendency to comfort I am glad to find, that you generally and strengthen believers. In the afternoon, from hear three times a day. Young men, who wish to Acts xvii. 30, 31. The times of this ignorance be ministers, cannot hear too much of the gospel, God winked at, but now commandeth all men every provided they are anxious to improve on what they where to repent, because he hath appointed a day in do hear.” which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead! He considered-1. the certainty of a future judgment; 2. the person of the judge; 3. the circumstances of the day; 4. the necessity of repentance inferred from the text. He, indeed, is a worthy man, and appears well suited for a missionary. In the evening I heard Mr. L the Chapel, from John. iii. 14. For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,' &c. He said many good things, and is very earnest in the good cause. Last Lord's day we had Mr. M- again; text in the morning, Heb. vi. 11. And we desire, that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full the thing mentioned-the full assurance of hope; He considered-1. assurance of hope unto the end.' 2. showed that it might be attained; 3. exhorted them to diligence in aspiring after it. Time and room forbid me to make any remarks upon the ser mon (which was a good one) in the afternoon, from Acts xvi. 9. And then stood a man of Ma cedonia and prayed him, saying come over and help us.' In discoursing on it, he showed-1. that the heathens want help; 2. that it is the duty of minis ers and people to give it them; and 3. that men should exert themselves for the purpose. It appeared like a collection sermon; and he went afterwards and got a little money of a few friends at Hertford, for

I shall present the reader with nearly the whole of the following letter; and I think, that few will be found, on the perusal, who deem it unworthy of preservation. It contains a pleasing, grateful (and the more pleasing as it is entirely uninfluenced) tribute to the memory of departed worth-discloses the deep attention and care with which its writer was, at that early age, accustomed to hear and reflect upon sermons, and shows how incessant and uniform was the panting of his heart for the Christian ministry.

IV.

Hertford, November 18, 1805.
"MY DEAREST FRIEND-I expected to have heard
from you before now, but as I have not, it be
comes me to bear the disappointment with forti-
tude and resolution, hoping that it will not be
long before I have a few lines from you. On
Saturday last, I heard that that good and worthy
man Mr. Winwood was dead. It will, I doubt
not, be a great stroke to the family; but I am
well assured, that to him death was eternal gain.
Truly, the righteous hath hope in his death. May
you and I both be found at the last day on the right
hand of the Judge with our respected master!
While he is tuning his harp to the praises of a pre-
cious Jesus, we have to combat with many enemies;
we have many trials to pass under

Before we reach the heavenly fields,
Or walk the golden streets!*

We shall, I am persuaded, feel our own depravity
in many instances here below, ere we join with him
in everlasting songs above; but if we are enlisted
under the banners-the blood-stained banners of the
cross, we shall certainly arrive there. Let us then
seek, earnestly seek, after the one thing needful;
and whilst earthly objects vanish and decay in our
estimation; nay, whilst the world dies daily in our
view, and its perishing things appear in their pro-
per light-may we feel our hearts panting after the
wells of salvation-our souls, with all their facul-
ties, engaged in the noblest of all undertakings
our feet running in the good ways of God-
our tongues making mention of his righteousness,
and of his only-in short, may we be crucified to
the world-risen with Christ-and transformed into
his divine image and likeness. This, I trust, I can
say is my desire, and I know it is the earnest wish
of my dear friend.

Alas! lamented youth! little did he, or the friend to whom he wrote, imagine how few his trials-how short his warfare should prove-and how soon the pious desire of his heart should be, as it respected himself, fulfilled: such and so mysterious are the ways of God-Spencer is early summoned to his rest, but his companion is left, still to maintain the conflict, whilst he mourns his loss-"two men shall be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left." Matthew xxiv. 40.

the mission to China.

at

"In the evening, having been previously invited, I went at six o'clock to Mr. K————————'s, to see the minister. I was there during family worship; and after that, Mr. M. and self went up stairs to talk a little together. He asked me about my learning, &c., then how long I had been seriously disposed, &c. He appeared satisfied with my answers, and asked me if I was not going into the country; I told him 'yes.' He asked me if I should have an opportunity of attending to my books there. This and asked me if I designed to be a minister in this naturally led to the whole affair: he seemed glad, country. I told him I wished to be quite resigned to the will of Providence in that matter. He gave me some good advice; and then we knelt down, and he engaged in a short and affectionate praver. I was much affected with the advice, conversation, and prayer.

-I am sensible that your attachment to me is as unshaken as ever. I hope you pray that both of us may be made ministers of the gospel; and in some future day, have our wishes respecting that completely fulfilled. I am very desirous that you may be shortly placed in a situation in which you will have more leisure for reading, writing, studying, &c. O that you were going with me to Harwich. Still continue to pray for one who feels his own unworthiness for the service of his God, and yet wishes to be an instrument of doing grea: good to souls: and if I should not be very success ful in my ministry, methinks it would be reward